New Equipment

The scientific experimentation needed to develop the equipment below frequently attracted attention from the very horrors that the items were designed to combat. Many people died to bring these items into being, and many more will die unless they can be put to good use.

Dimensional Transformer: Acting on the few available reports of the coexistent dimension inhabited by dimensional horrors, scientists set to work attempting to access it. After ten years of study and many disastrous trials, it became clear that only very small objects could safely be shifted to this dimension and then only for short periods. Since then, all efforts have been devoted to miniaturizing the technology and making it more reliable. The result of this development is the dimensional transformer.

A dimensional transformer is a bulky, suppressorlike device that can be attached to nearly any properly fitted handgun or longarm gun barrel with a successful Repair check (DC 15). Once activated (a move action), the dimensional transformer shifts any bullet fired from the gun into the realm of the dimensional horrors. The bullet shifts just before leaving the barrel and remains in the other dimension for only a few seconds. This effect allows the wielder to fire at dimensional horrors and other shifted targets even though they are not visible or tangible. The effects of the target's invisibility still apply (a 50% miss chance, assuming that the shooter targets the correct square).

Although its accuracy leaves much to be desired because of this miss chance, the dimensional transformer has proven useful in many encounters with dimensional horrors. The device can shift 200 bullets before it burns out and becomes ineffective.

An interesting side effect of the dimensional transformer was discovered during its first live test. A dimensional horror grabbed a soldier, who managed to escape the creature's grasp after it had taken him to the other dimension. The soldier immediately fired several shots at the creature with his weapon. The bullets had no effect on the dimensional horror, but they struck and killed two of the soldier's compatriots in the normal world before he realized what was happening. When fired in the coexistent dimension, a dimensional transformer shifts bullets into the normal world, allowing them to strike targets there. They then shift back to the coexistent dimension, where they remain for 1 minute before reappearing in the normal world. Fortunately, dimensional horrors seem incapable of manipulating guns well enough to fire them. The potential of the dimensional transformer as a means to flawless, evidencefree assassinations is just one of the many reasons that governments around the world continue to study dimensional horrors and their realm, despite the grave dangers of such experimentation.

Shift Detector: A shift detector looks like a bulky, portable satellite receiver, but its clumsy shape hides an extremely complicated system designed to project a field of specially charged subatomic particles and detect disturbances in their flow. When a dimensionally shifted creature enters the field, the detector's alarm sounds, alerting those nearby to the presence of such a creature. (Alternatively, the device can be wired to a networked alert system that relays the alarm elsewhere.) The field projects outward from the shift detector in a 10- to 60-foot radius, and it can detect shifted creatures within or on the other side of objects. Unfortunately, the shift detector is imprecise: It cannot pinpoint the direction of the shifted being, and the fields generated by other shift detectors invariably set it off.

Shift Extender: Scientists have been unable to perfect any means of transferring creatures or objects as large as dimensional horrors from one dimension to another. However, they have created a device that extends the amount of time a creature remains shifted once a dimensional horror has taken it to the coexistent dimension. Though it is somewhat awkward to use, this device, called a shift extender, has proven to be highly useful in fighting dimensional horrors.

A shift extender is a surprisingly small device about the size and shape of a brick, with two nets made of long wires and cables extending from the top. When these nets are wrapped around a creature or object weighing no more than 300 pounds, the shift extender is ready for use. The device activates automatically when the creature or object to which it is attached is shifted to the dimensional horror's realm. Both the shift extender and its attachment remain shifted for an extra 2d10 rounds beyond the usual 1- minute duration after release in the coexistent dimension. If the wearer of the device is grappled again by a dimensional horror during this period, the device resets, providing another 2d10 rounds of extra time after the next release. When the extra time has elapsed, the device and the object or creature to which it is attached return to the normal world. If desired, the wearer can return to the normal world before the time is up by manually shutting off the device. Doing so requires a move action to disconnect the cables.